Unilever chief slams Euro telcos

NEWS Europe's telecommunication infrastructure is inefficient and over-priced, according to Nick White, vice chairman of the International Telecommunications User Group. White has championed the business telecoms user for 30 years and is currently head of technology and communications at Unilever. In an exclusive Agenda Setters interview with Silicon.com, White said the right technology for end-users is out there, but is not being offered by commercial suppliers. He said: "This is clearly denied by the providers, who either say, 'the regulators won't let us' or, 'we're trying to make sure that the technology is stable before we offer it.' But we can see the technology's there. We can see low-cost bandwidth's there, and yet we can't actually acquire it effectively." White has long campaigned for interoperability between telco suppliers, and for harmonising the pricing of Europe's leased lines. Despite the current problems, he predicts that a golden age of low-cost, efficient bandwidth may be dawning. "I think some of the moves, like the bandwidth exchanges to enable the end-user to get at a wholesale price for a core bandwidth, may begin to break down some of the boundaries," he said. You can watch the full Agenda Setters interview with Nick White in the Corporate Telecoms channel (http://www.silicon.com/a36654 ).